US Team Dons Hijab in Solidarity with Player Protesting referees’ decision to ban their colleague from playing while donning hijab, the football team of a high school in Aurora, Colorado, decided to don Islamic headscarf in solidarity with their friend. “Wednesday March 12 was our first game. That was when the referee said [Samah Aidah] couldn’t play due to her hijab, which they said was dangerous,” Divine Davis, a member of Overland High School football team, told Aquila Style website on Monday, March 17. “The next day, we all wore the hijabs.” The news hit twitter after Davis posted a photo for the whole team smiling in their dark blue uniforms while donning hijab. The picture was posted with the following tweet, “The refs wouldn’t let Samah play with her hijab so today we all wore one for the game #lovemyteam #letsamahplay.” According to Davis, the picture was taken before the game. “We took this picture before the game and Samah was able to play,” Divine said. She decided to post the picture on Twitter simply because she wanted to “show my Twitter friends what [they] did.” Headscarves were banned from FIFA competitions in 2007, with FIFA saying that they posed too great a risk of injury to the head or neck. On March 1, 2014, FIFA officials decided to allow the Islamic headscarf in matches. Role Models To the surprise of the stumbling team, their picture went viral and elicited a wave of positive responses from across the globe. Twitter user @KiranMK0822 tweeted, “Thanks for standing up for what’s right! And thanks from a hijabi who plays badminton with the hijab on!” “Shot out to Overland girls soccer for standing up for whats right! Very Proud of you young ladies!” @KingNegronidas wrote. “@DivineDavis from fairview high school to you guys, much respect. You guys have a lot of class great character. Way to stand ^ 4 whats right,” @GaelynCrowder added. Twitter user @samreennnnn wrote: “@DivineDavis You all might have been players. But you guys just became a team.” Though there are no official estimates, the US is home to an estimated Muslim minority of six to eight million. An earlier Gallup poll found that the majority of Americans Muslims are loyal to their country and optimistic about their future in the United States. Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 07:19:54 +0000
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